An Interesting Story

There is an interesting sidelight story that goes along with this photograph!  I think the moral of my story is: "Never assume..."  It was August of 1977 and I was in Manhattan with Edie Smith, who produced fashion stories for the Newsday Sunday Magazine.  I knew I was going to be photographing a fashion designer and a model in one of his dresses.  So I found a perfect location with good natural light for my shot, and Edie headed up to the studio of the designer, a man named Stephen Burrows, who I didn't know.  While I was waiting with my photographic equipment and a camera slung on my shoulder, I saw a photographer and his assistant setting up a still life photograph of some shoes about 20 feet to the right of this spot.  So, being a friendly guy, I wandered over and said "Hi" and asked in a friendly way, who they were shooting for.  Well, essentially, they wouldn't give me the time of day.  It was as if their photo shoot was really important and they didn't have the time to talk to me.  Mind you, this was a still-life shot they were doing, and no models were involved.  OK, fine, I will go over to my spot and wait for Edie and the designer and the model.  Ten minutes later, the three of them arrive.  I chat briefly with the designer and the model and ask if she would be able to climb up on the wall with our help, and she said "yes" and so I set up this photograph.  It was PERFECT!  The dress looked beautiful hanging down in front of the wall, and my subjects were very relaxed, and smiling and this is the shot I got.  It is one of my all time favorite fashion shots!  I did notice, while shooting, and walking up to them to make a suggestion or two, that the two shoe photographers had stopped their work and were watching me take this shot!  I think I only shot for about 5 or 10 minutes or so and then the designer and model went back up to the studio.  The two shoe photographers came over to me and said something about what a beautiful photograph that was, and they wanted to know who was I and who did I shoot for!  I was very friendly and answered their questions, but inside I was kind of gloating, that suddenly I was good enough to talk to!  The lesson is, never assume anything about the people you meet.  You never know who they are and what they are capable of!